Monday, 7 September 2009

Mine Watch (Solwezi)

Kiwara Plc has raised the estimates of copper deposits previously discussed here. The copper resource estimation report by international consulting firm Snowden showed the Kalumbila project in northwestern Zambia had inferred mineral resource of 1.45 billion tonnes in copper ore, revised from 1.38 billion tonnes. The World Bank's private sector arm, the International Finance Corp (IFC) is investing $15 million in the equity of Kiwara, to help it develop the mineral deposits.

7 comments:

what is the point of tracking estimates, if nothing will change on the ground?I speak here to the larger point of effecting a positive change for those in Zambia that stand to see any impact, what is achieved by you and a few people in diaspora sharing this knowledge if no one acts on it, neither you nor readers make any impact unless we take it to another level. petition government or the company to translate increased earning to increased tax revenue for ZRA, or shame the company into increasing funding for social development. am ready post the next move beyond observance....Thanks though for bringing this up at least now we have a baseline for the next level..

Thanks, I did read the "our vision" and " invest in Zambia" I came with the same feeling I get when " so called NGO/ charity agency" asks me for a donation.The local boys making bricks on corners help build more houses and buying their bricks makes a greater impact in uplifting their community from poverty and poor housing conditions.Anonymous posting is one of the options available in the comments section, do u have a problem we that anyone using that option.I can confront GRZ at the point of action i.e petition, voting etc..I was merely speaking to the larger point of moving from observing or if you choose highlighting incidences were corporations/investors are understating returns to obviously evade taxes,local obligations while at the same time maximizing externalization of profits.Thank you though for coming up with that vision and choosing to invest in that venture, I guess am just wondering out loud if more can be done, that all, no harm or poking fun intended.

While there is undoubtedly still a role to be played by hand-made, sun-dried clay bricks in household construction for some time to come, it would be incorrect to equate the structural properties of "bricks made on corners" with kiln-fired clay bricks and structural concrete blocks. Jobs making bricks are fine, but ultimately you don't actually want too many of them because it is better to have lots of reliable, inexpensive bricks available to enable the far greater number of potential bricklayer jobs. Automated and semi-automated brick making is just a logical step in productivity and job creation, this is an example of why adding capital improvements to the economy and emphasizing infrastructure development is effective, and I think your disdain is misplaced.

As for what the purpose of sites such as this, which observe trends, well I see it as analogous to the value addition made to the overall print media by quarterly journals. Print media is dominated by dailies and weeklies, but the very immediacy of their attention also tends to produce superficial analysis and often lack of awareness of larger trends or patterns. Quarterly journal articles are written over a longer period of time, involve greater research and reference to sources, and produce a deeper analysis more likely to be useful in identifying solutions to problems than "breaking news".

In an internet news space increasingly dominated by 140 character tweets, soundbites, and video clips, there is a similar place for blogs such as ZE which track trends, revisit topics to incorporate new data and developments, and present a variety of perspectives on Zambian issues for open discussion. This is a media site, and thus by observing it is "acting as designed".

I can appreciate your desire to do more than observe, however what you are looking for is a political activist organization, which ZE is not. Choosing such an organization will also better enable you to work together with people who agree with you on purposes and methods, whereas I would be hard pressed to think of any one initiative which all ZE readers/contributors would agree to pursue collectively via a single methodology. Based solely on your references to exercising voting rights and petitioning governments and corporations on issues of "fairness", I will use the Anti-Voter Apathy Project and Transparency International Zambia as examples of such activist groups.

Yakima-here you go again, you "straw man" approach is this case is utterly despicable. "it would be incorrect to equate the structural properties of "bricks made on corners" with kiln-fired clay bricks and structural concrete blocks" you say- I made no such claim.Please stick the subject, avoid grand generalizations and quite shocking obscene stretches of what I said.I know where and how to get my voice heard, thank you very much.The Huffington blog started off quite like Zambian Economist, am merely wondering out loud if more can be done, with what Cho is obviously so good at tracking. I did not call for the entire basis of his blog to be questioned.I commend Cho for his very good work digging out developments in mining,politics,health,education etc.Am just asking, not necessarily of Cho as of readers if more than observance or reading on our part is enough?I should not be vilified nor degraded for merely asking that, or maybe some us are so used to softballs, inside the box approach and can not imagine the slightest evolution of Cho's initial "vision".

I agree that you should not be degraded or vilified for expressing your opinion, and I am sorry that you feel that you have been. Apparently I misread your reference to, "The local boys making bricks on corners help build more houses and buying their bricks makes a greater impact in uplifting their community from poverty and poor housing conditions." It was my mistake to assume that you brought that up as comparison to BrickWorld Zambia as more deserving of ZE direct support. Since I therefore have no idea what you were trying to say, and descriptions of my own perspective are apparently too staid and ordinary, I will withdraw from further attempts at communication.

This website has an open door policy to continue getting feedback on where the public feel we ought to be moving.

Your confidence in what we are trying to do is welcome.

What Yakima expressed mirrors my own view. That does not mean we are not open to hear from you. If you feel we can even achieve greater things please do get in touch.

I mentioned your anonymity because as Yakima will tell you, I have a personal policy not to respond to anonymous questions except in exceptional circumstances. People are free to comment anonymously, and I encourage them to, if they have some sensitive to say. BUT they should not expect a response from me. I responded to you because your comment was productive.

Please drop me an email to explain more of the vision you have in mind.

All contributors should follow the basic principles of a productive dialogue: communicate their perspective, ask, comment, respond,and share information and knowledge, but do all this with a positive approach.

This is a friendly website. However, if you feel compelled to comment 'anonymously', you are strongly encouraged to state your location / adopt a unique nick name so that other commentators/readers do not confuse your comments with other individuals also commenting anonymously.

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The Zambian Economist is a private website produced and maintained in my own time, and reflects solely my personal opinions. Statements published on the Zambian Economist do not represent the views or policies of employers, friends, family, past or present, or anyone I may or may not be associated with. Any view, opinion or information submitted in the comments section is the sole responsibility of the respective contributor or visitor to the site. These do not in any way represent the views of Zambian Economist nor can I be held responsible for them.